Nook & Cranny — Restaurant in Fareham

From start to finish it's a taste experience. We were lucky enough to get a table at this small restaurant on a busy Friday evening.

We were offered drinks as we looked through the menu. There were approx 5-6 starters and equally as many main courses to choose from. On a Friday and Saturday night, I believe they only offer the a la carte menu. Midweek they offer a set menu as well.

My husband chose a onion consummé with a gruyere cheese puff - this was divine and served out of a glass tea pot. I had the cured salmon and scallops. Both starters were divine, beautifully presented and memorable. Dishes we would most certainly order again.

For our main course, two of our party decided to have the Southdown Lamb (pictured) and I have the Dover Sole with pea and mint puree and large chips. (Not sure why I didn’t take a picture of my food, but I think I actually got distracted and began to eat before I remembered the picture!) The Dover sole was a fabulous twist on fish and chips. Totally divine and the most memorable part was the pea pure and the succulent fish portion! The Southdown Lamb was a great hit. Not only was it beautifully presented it was also a very large portion. 2 lamb steaks were placed on top of the dauphinoise potatoes, along with a portion of slow cooked lamb.

We couldn’t resist the Baked Honeycomb and Ginger Alaska and decided to share this dish. Every bite was amazing.

The service was friendly and efficient, without being overbearing. The food is brilliant.

Most certainly...

My friend and I were holidaying in the area & this place came on recommendation. We booked a table in advance for a Sunday at 2pm, it was a hot day, and the windows didn't open next to us so we asked to move and the Manager (a lady who appeared to be in charge) was accommodating & offered us an alternative. The place was busy! Initially my friend was served the wrong drink, however the barman, rectified this straight away. We ordered the last of the two specials that day, unfortunately I had to spit out the first couple of bites of my beef salad due to gristle, and what I assumed was a bit of bone. I struggled to cut the beef, it was very tough in places. The chef was apologetic and I ordered the duck leg instead. When it arrived I was most disappointed at the size of the meal, especially as it was £18.95. It was tiny with just 2 new potatoes cut in half and a tiny duck leg with little meat on it atall (see photo) We were served by whoever was available with little consistency, however the staff were polite and helpful. I didn't want to have to complain about a second meal, so we ate up, had a bit of ice cream and left. Lovely little place but the food let me down on this...

After reading reviews & hearing so many recommendations, I was really looking forward to our visit. We must have just experienced a bad day. The kids' food arrived with no beans, just a plate of chicken and chips, I mentioned to staff, and nothing reflected on the bill, and I was surprised it made it past the chef. We had the seafood platter with no finger bowl for prawns, but after asking, we got some lemon wipes. The service seemed off, slow, and a little uncertain (we were asked about drinks, when we'd been waiting for some time for a dessert option and waitress hadn't realised we'd had our mains, so cleared our left over cutlary). We also had a lady, who I assume is the landlady, sat next to us on her laptop gambling away, barking a few orders with her pack of cigarettes lined up, sit in a discreet corner away from customers, there was room. Maybe we were just unlucky. Beautiful location, great walks, and cycles around. Maybe stick with sandwiches (doorstep and...